Originally Posted by LouiseK

I'm no expert by far, but i have taken it upon myself to chop down several large shrubs and small trees.

It seems to me that the best way for me is to saw through the trunk at the lowest point.

Then i use a fork and a pick axe to hack around the roots and loose them up.

If there is a big root, i saw through it and then lever the base of the shrub/tree to reveal more large roots to saw through until it it loose enough to lever to whole base up.

I just cover over the holes with soil or grass.

It takes about 1 hour per shrub for the roots, but i'm not very strong - it would probably be much faster for my husband...